So whilst Pao’s story is completely fictional, I have tried my best to get the context right. This has involved a huge amount of research including books, films, the internet, as well as several trips to Jamaica and endless questions and queries to my mother and other members of my family. The key documentary sources are listed on page 275.
In the end though, in true Taoist style, Pao is a book about Jamaica’s history, and it is not a book about Jamaica’s history. It is a book about Jamaican people and it is not a book about Jamaican people. What it is, is a book about the world, and the universe and the ten thousand things.
Kerry Young, June 2010
When this book was submitted to Bloomsbury, Helen Garnons-Williams remarked that it had the potential to be truly wonderful. If it has achieved that potential, it is because of her. Thanks also to Sarah-Jane Forder for her meticulous and sensitive work. I had no idea copy-editing would be so much fun. Erica Jarnes for taking charge of the things I found scary and for keeping me on track through the process. My agent, Susan Yearwood, without whom Pao would not have found his way to Helen. And to Amanda and Charlie, and all those who helped to make the impossible possible, and who cheered me on over the years, thank you.
Key Sources
Black, Stephanie, Life and Debt in Jamaica , Tuff Gong Pictures, 2001
Chen, Ray, The Shopkeepers: Commemorating 150 years of the Chinese in Jamaica 1854-2004 , Periwinkle Publishers (Jamaica) Ltd, 2005
Han, Suyin, The Crippled Tree , Panther Books Ltd, 1972
Jian Bozan, Shao Xunzheng and Hu Hua, A Concise History of China , Foreign Languages Press, 1986
Manley, Beverley, The Manley Memoirs , Ian Randle Publishers, 2008
Manley, Michael, Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery , Third World Media Ltd in association with Writers and Readers Publishing Co-operative Society Ltd, 1982
Nhat Hanh, Thich, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching , Broadway Books, 1999
Nhat Hanh, Thich, The Art of Power , HarperOne, 2008
Pan, Lynn, Sons of the Yellow Emperor: A History of the Chinese Diaspora , Kodansha America, Inc., 1994
Powell, Patricia, The Pagoda , Harcourt Brace & Company, 1999
Rogozinski, Jan, A Brief History of the Caribbean , Meridian, 1994
Salaria, Fatima, Blood and Fire , screened Sunday 4 August 2002 on BBC 2
Sherlock, Philip and Bennett, Hazel, The Story of the Jamaican People , Ian Randle Publishers, 1998
Sun Tzu, The Art of War , translated by Samuel B. Griffith, Oxford University Press, 1971
The Gleaner, Geography & History of Jamaica (23rd edition), The Gleaner Company, 1995
Van De Wetering, Janwillem, The Empty Mirror , Arkana, 1987
Williams, C.A.S., Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art Forms (3rd revised edition), Dover Publications, Inc., 1976
Pao
by Kerry Young
These discussion questions are designed to enhance your group’s conversation about Pao , a sweeping historical saga about a young Chinese man in Jamaica who rises to become the “godfather” of Kingston’s Chinatown.
About this book
Pao is about to marry the wrong woman. Seven years after he immigrates to Jamaica from China, he meets Gloria, a beautiful Jamaican prostitute who steals his heart. But Pao’s beloved mentor, Zhang, from whom he inherited the Chinatown “family business,” does not approve of Gloria. So Pao decides to marry Fay Wong, the elegant daughter of one of Kingston’s richest Chinese men. Suddenly Pao is running not only the Chinatown underworld, but also many legitimate businesses too, thanks to his profitable marriage.
But Fay is miserable in Chinatown; she plots an escape to England, taking her two children with her. Although Pao is devastated to lose his family, he realizes that his children are safer far away from Kingston-after Jamaica gains independence from England, all hopes of unity and brotherhood soon dissolve into violence. As chaos overtakes the streets of Kingston, Pao must face his part in Jamaica’s struggle to overcome its great divides: between Chinese and African, capitalist and communist, wealthy and poor.
For discussion
1. The novel begins in 1945, when Pao first meets Gloria, then flashes back to his immigration to Jamaica seven years earlier. Why does the novel open with the love triangle of Pao, Gloria, and Fay, instead of at the beginning of Pao’s life in Kingston?
2. Pao is written in dialect, with words spelled as Pao pronounces them. What is the effect of reading the novel in Pao’s voice? What would the novel be like without Pao’s distinctive voice as narrator?
3. Consider Pao’s first impressions of Jamaica as he arrives from China by boat. How does the city of Kingston look to Pao? How does he quickly make Kingston his home?
4. When Pao falls in love with Gloria, Judge Finley tells him, “Marriage is not for celebrating. It is something you do to give your children a name” (6). Why does Pao choose to marry Fay Wong, and what price does he pay for his choice? How does he eventually reconnect with Gloria’s daughter, Esther, even though he has not given her his name?
5. Compare the two Yang brothers, Pao and Xiuquan. How are the brothers similar and how are they different? Xiuquan declares, “I want something better. Something better than being a Chinaman in Chinatown” (45). Does Pao, too, want something better? Explain.
6. Consider Pao’s inheritance from Zhang. What does Pao learn from the older man? Pao hopes that “maybe one day I become like him, a man that believe in something. A man that is loyal to a cause. A man that people can count on” (51). How does Pao grow up to become like Zhang, and how does he remain different from his mentor?
7. Discuss the impact of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War on Pao’s decision making. How does he put Sun Tzu’s strategies to action? At the end of the novel, Pao realizes, “And then I think to myself sure enough Sun Tzu right ’bout all these things, but maybe life not just a matter of strategy… Something that got more to do with what Zhang say ’bout benevolence and sincerity, humanity and courage” (262). How does Pao strike a balance between Sun Tzu’s teachings and Zhang’s principles?
8. According to Zhang, “the Jamaicans same as the Chinese, poor and exploited and oppressed” (30). If the Jamaicans and Chinese are “brothers in arms,” as Zhang believes, why are there tensions between these two groups? How does Pao strive to overcome the ethnic tensions of Kingston, and when does he fail?